First edition – 1964
The first edition set the ground work for the goals and scope of the ''Encyclopedia''. In its forward, Editor-in-Chief Richard L. Frey observed that:The only previous ''Encyclopedia of Bridge'' was edited by Ely Culbertson and published in 1935 ... The ambitious goal set for this ''Official Encyclopedia of Bridge'' was simple to state: "To provide an official and authoritative answer to any question a reader might ask about the game of contract bridge and its leading players."Foreword to the 1st edition.On its dust jacket, the first edition states:
This encyclopedia is the most complete and authoritative book of information, guidance, and instruction for bridge players, ever published. It covers every aspect of bridge in all bridge-playing countries of the world; it contains complete and lucid definitions of every term; it describes and illustrates every standard bid, every recognized convention, and every type of play.Front inside panel of the dust jacket to the 1st editionThe first edition is divided into two main parts: #Main listings: The Introduction Introduction to the 1st edition. indicates that the entries in the main listings fall into five main categories (technical, historical, procedural, biographical and geographical, and terminological) and are presented alphabetically over 683 pages with entries frequently ending with cross-references to other entries on related category topics. Over 50 bridge-playing countries are listed and brief biographies of over 1,500 American and over 400 other players are recorded. #Bibliography: The main listings are followed by an eight-page bibliography. The Harvard University online catalog entry for the first edition includes a note that "A great majority of the unsigned technical entries are by Alan Truscott."
Editors
*Richard L. Frey, Editor-in-Chief *Alan F. Truscott, Executive EditorEditorial Advisory Board
* Albert H. Morehead, Chairman *B. Jay Becker *Geoffrey L. Butler *Carlos Cabanne *S. Carini-Mazzaccara *Robert de Nexon *Charles H. Goren *Alfred M. Gruenther *Ranik Halle *Johannes Hammerich *Ernst Heldring *Contributing Editors
*Russell Baldwin *Jean Besse *George W. Beynon * Easley Blackwood *Jens Boeck *George S. Coffin *Eric Crowhurst *Victor R. Daly *Albert Dormer *Albert Field *Harry Fishbein *Mrs. A.L. Fleming *Sam Fry, Jr. *Richard Goldberg *Harry Goldwater *M. Harrison-Gray *Mrs. Dorothy Hayden *Lee Hazen *Don Horwitz *Monroe Ingberman *Arturo Jaques *Edwin B. Kantar *Edgar Kaplan *Sammy Kehela *Jack Kelly *Edwart Kempson *José Le Dentu *A. Littman-Lemaitre *Paul Lukacs *Arthur Marks *Mrs. Rixi Markus *Philip Merry *Marshall L. Miles *Victor Mollo *Florence Osborn *George Partos *Harry Polunsky *R. Anthony Priday *Terence Reese *William S. Root *Federico Rosa *Dr. George Rosenkranz *Lawrence Rosler *Ernest Rovere *Jeff Rubens *Howard Schenken *Jerome Scheuer *William Seamon *Ramon Skoroupo *Al Sobel *Norman Squire *Sam Stayman *Roy G. Telfer *Alec Traub *Robert Wakeman *Charlton Wallace *Robert W. WilsonInternational Edition
In 1967 an edition revised for the needs of a British and European audience was published by Paul Hamlyn (London) under the title ''The Bridge Players' Encyclopedia''. It was described as an International Edition based on ''The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge'' of 1964. The edition modified American spellings, 'translated' bidding structures to the more widely used Acol system, omitted biographical notes on some lesser known Americans and added biographical notes on British and European players resulting in coverage of over 50 countries and over 500 players.Foreword to the International Edition, 1967. The editors were Ben Cohen and Rhoda Barrow.Second edition – 1971
Richard Frey writesForeword to the 2nd edition. that since the first edition of 1964,... bridge has attracted new adherents throughout the world, systems and conventions have been more and more influenced by "science" and "artificiality" ...The second edition is divided into four main parts:Introduction to the 2nd edition. #Main listings: technical bidding and play, historical, procedural (tournament organization, laws, etc.), geographical, and terminological. As in the first edition, entries frequently end with cross-references to other entries on related topics. #Biographies of leading personalities: The biographies include over 2,000 Americans and over 500 players from elsewhere. #Tournament results: American Bridge Association National Championships, All-American Regional Championships, and European, Far East and South American Championships. World Championships and USBA Grand Nationals are in the main listings #Bibliography: listed according to subject matter.
Editors
*Richard L. Frey, Editor-in-Chief *Alan F. Truscott, Executive Editor *Thomas S. Smith, Managing EditorEditorial Advisory Board
*B. Jay Becker *Geoffrey L. Butler *Carlos Cabanne *S. Carini-Mazzaccara *Charles H. Goren *Alfred M. Gruenther *Ranik Halle *Johannes Hammerich *Ernst Heldring *Contributing Editors
*Mrs. Rhoda Barrow *Jean Besse * Easley Blackwood *Jens Boeck *George S. Coffin *Eric Crowhurst *Victor R. Daly *Albert Dormer *Albert Field *Mrs. A.L. Fleming *Sam Fry, Jr. *Richard Goldberg *Harry Goldwater *M. Harrison-Gray* *Mrs. Dorothy Hayden *Lee Hazen *Don Horwitz *Monroe Ingberman *Arturo Jaques *Edwin B. Kantar *Fred Karpin *Sammy Kehela *Jack Kelly* *Edwart Kempson* *José Le Dentu *A. Littman-Lemaitre *Paul Lukacs *Arthur Marks* *Mrs. Rixi Markus *Philip Merry *Marshall L. Miles *Victor Mollo *George Partos *Harry Polunsky *R. Anthony Priday *Terence Reese *William S. Root *Federico Rosa *Dr. George Rosenkranz *Lawrence Rosler *Ernest Rovere *Jeff Rubens *Howard Schenken *Jerome Scheuer *William Seamon *Ramon Skoroupo* *Terry Smith *Al Sobel *Sam Stayman *Roy G. Telfer *Alec Traub *Robert Wakeman *Charlton Wallace *Robert W. Wilson*Third edition – 1976
Richard Frey comments on several themes in the foreword to the third edition:We have seen rapid and radical developments in bidding systems; explosions of new cheating scandals and employment of devices to prevent them; the creation of techniques for warning opponents about bids that have unusual meanings ...
... the newly uncovered evidence that bridge was known and played before the earliest previous accreditation (to Russia) of its origin and its name.Foreword to the 3rd editionThe third edition is organized into the same four parts as the second. There are again over 2,500 biographies but newer and stricter criteria were applied and many previous entries have been superseded by new ones; successes in competitions remain in the appropriate event listings.How to use this Encyclopedia, 3rd edition
Editors
*Richard L. Frey, Editor-in-Chief *Alan F. Truscott, Executive Editor *Amalya L. Kearse, Editor, Third EditionEditorial Advisory Board
*B. Jay Becker *Geoffrey L. Butler *Carlos Cabanne *S. Carini-Mazzaccara *Herman Filarski *Richard L. Goldberg *Charles Goren *Alfred M. Gruenther *Ranik Halle *Johannes Hammerich *Ernst Heldring *Contributing Editors
*Jean Besse * Easley Blackwood *Jens Boeck *George S. Coffin *Ralph Cohen *Eric Crowhurst *Victor R. Daly *Albert Dormer *Robert Ewen *Albert Field *Mrs. A.L. Fleming *Henry G. Francis *Harold Franklin *Sam Fry, Jr. *Richard Goldberg *Harry Goldwater *Lee Hazen *Don Horwitz *Monroe Ingberman *Arturo Jaques *Edwin B. Kantar *Fred Karpin *Sammy Kehela *Ron Klinger *Rhoda Barrow Lederer *Paul Lukacs *Rixi Markus *Philip Merry *Marshall L. Miles *Victor Mollo *George Partos *R. Anthony Priday *Terence Reese *William S. Root *Lawrence Rosler *Ernest Rovere *Jeff Rubens *Howard Schenken *William Seamon *Edith Simon *Terry Smith *Thomas M. Smith *Sam Stayman *Roy G. Telfer *Alec Traub *Robert True *Dorothy Hayden Truscott *Jo Van Den Borre *Robert Wakeman *Charlton WallaceFourth edition – 1984
The fourth edition contains 922 pages — the most of any edition. Again, the pace of change in bridge is great as Richard Frey, now Editor Emeritus having been succeeded as Editor-in-Chief by Henry Francis, notes in the Foreword,... a quantum leap in the technical material ... many new and intriguing methods and ideas have made their appearance in the past seven years, and some have been widely adopted.The organization of the fourth edition follows that of the third and second.
Editors
*Henry G. Francis, Editor-in-Chief *Alan F. Truscott, Executive Editor *Richard L. Frey, Editor Emeritus *Diane Hayward, Editor, Fourth EditionEditorial Advisory Board
*B. Jay Becker *Geoffrey L. Butler *Carlos Cabanne *S. Carini-Mazzaccara *Benno Gimkiewicz *Richard L. Goldberg *Charles Goren *Ranik Halle *Johannes Hammerich *Denis Howard *Contributing Editors
*Bertrand N. Bauer *Jean Besse * Easley Blackwood *George S. Coffin *Ralph Cohen *Eric Crowhurst *Victor R. Daly *George F. Donaghy *Albert Dormer *Sue Emery *Robert Ewen *Albert Field *Irene (Dimmie) Fleming *Harold Franklin *Sam Fry, Jr. *Richard Goldberg *Harry Goldwater *Lee Hazen *Don Horwitz *Monroe Ingberman *Arturo Jaques *Edwin B. Kantar *Fred Karpin *Steve Katz *Sammy Kehela *Ron Klinger *Rhoda Barrow Lederer *Rixi Markus *Philip Merry *Marshall L. Miles *Richard Oshlaf *George Partos *Richard Anthony Priday *Terence Reese *William S. Root *Lawrence Rosler *Ernest Rovere *Jeff Rubens *William Sachen *William Seamon *Edith Simon *Terry Smith *Thomas M. Smith *Sam Stayman *Peggy Sutherlin *Roy G. Telfer *Alec Traub *Robert True *Dorothy Hayden Truscott *Jo Van Den BorreFifth edition – 1994
In the Foreword, Alan Truscott notes,The changes in the technical section have been far greater than in any of the earlier editions, reflecting the many theoretical advances in the past decade.Foreword to the 5th editionThe four part organization of the book follows the format of its immediate predecessors. More than 2,800 bridge personalities are listed in the biographies, largely updated by Dorthy Fancis; Truscott prepared most of the technical and foreign material with Frank Stewart contributing significantly to the technical; the expanded 21 page bibliography was prepared by William Sachen. Previous editions were published by Crown Publishers Inc. of New York; the 5th edition was published by the
Editors
*Henry G. Francis, Editor-in-Chief *Alan F. Truscott, Executive Editor *Dorthy A Francis, Editor, Fifth EditionContributing Editors
*Phillip Alder *Carlos Cabanne *Larry N. Cohen *Gabriel Chagas *Hugh Darwen *Sue Emery *Albert Field *Santanu Ghose *Richard Grenside *Sixth edition – 2001
The front inside panel of the dust jacket states:"This work is the most complete and authoritative book of information, guidance and instruction ever published for bridge players."The Foreword states,
This edition has been prepared primarily by Henry Francis, with major contributions and help from Alan Truscott andThe four part organization of the book follows the format of its immediate predecessors. More than 3,000 bridge personalitiesHow to use this Encyclopedia, 6th edition are listed in the biographies; the 60 page bibliography doubled that of the previous edition.Barry Rigal Barry Rigal (born 1958) is a bridge player, author, commentator and journalist. Born in England, he was married to world champion Sue Picus and lives in New York. Rigal has represented England in the Camrose Trophy Home International series five .... Once again Dorthy Francis has updated American biographies and world-wide tournament results. Tim Bourke, who owns one of the world's most complete bridge libraries and who assembled the Morehead Library at ACBL Headquarters, prepared the bibliography.
Editors
*Henry G. Francis, Editor-in-Chief *Alan F. Truscott, Executive Editor *Dorthy A Francis, Editor, Sixth EditionContributing Editors
*Phillip Alder *Carlos Cabanne *Gabriel Chagas *Hugh Darwen *Herman De Wael *Elly Ducheyne-Swaan *Albert Field *Santanu Ghose *Anna Gudge *Mazhar Jafri *Per Jannersten *Danny Kleinman *Eric Kokish *Sandra Landy *Jean-Paul Meyer *Svend Novrup *Julian Pottage *Seventh edition – 2011
The 7th edition had its beginning about 2006, when decisions were made about the format, the contents and the people who would be involved in putting it together. It departs from previous editions in several ways. Foremost is the medium: two CD-ROM volumes with one book whose contents match the first CD. All previous editions were one-volume books.Introduction to the 7th edition. This edition introduces photographs and has many of them. It comes with an index instead of a cross-reference table. In the print volume, both pages andEditors
*Brent Manley, Editor *Mark Horton, Co-Editor *Tracey Greenberg-Yarbro, Co-Editor *Contributing editors
Current edition *Henry B. Anderson *Bill Buttle *John Carruthers *Simon Cocheme *Lee Daugharty *Tom Dawson *Judy Dawson *Herman De Wael *Fred Gitelman *Robb Gordon *Terre Gorham *Anna Gudge *Peter Hasenson *Per Jannersten *Contents
The book contains the following Table of Contents; the first of twoBibliographic data
* * * * * * * *See also
Encyclopedic bibliographies on bridgeReferences
{{WPCBIndex Contract bridge books 20th-century encyclopedias